Dolmen 2.0, on 07 September 2015 - 02:20 PM, said:
Keep in mind though this guy has...controversial views.
This message is good though, thought I'd share.
At some point in every anime fan's life they hit that realization of just how few anime are passionate love-projects by their creators versus how many are just being made to pay the studio's bills. As someone who doesn't read manga, has read less than 5 light/virtual novels, doesn't own any figurines or plush toys, etc, yeah it can be depressing in some ways that there are so many one-season by-the-numbers adaptations that have no hope of being a good show on their own merits. But on the other hand, if those shows are keeping the anime industry afloat so that it can make more Gurren Laganns, Code Geasses, Redlines, Magica Madokas, Space Dandys, etc. As long as the industry stays afloat there will always be animators and directors who are driven to go beyond the generic, commercial projects and let their passions run wild, the same as any other artistic industry.
This is part of why I decided to start a Crunchyroll subscription this year, though. It's a drop in the bucket, but at least that drop is coming to the studios solely from the anime side of things. Maybe eventually the economics will shift and anime won't be so reliant on supporting itself through other source mediums. I don't even like Crunchyroll that much, and still end up watching a bunch of shows on other
totally legal sites because of better video playback or subtitles, but this way I feel like I'm giving the right kind of support.
Another interesting point to consider is that which merchandise/source material sells ends up dictating a lot of the trends in anime. In the 80s, robot toys sold well, so there were lots of shows about robots that could raise sales for their particular robot toy. Nowadays, it seems like 'adult'(er) figurines and geeky LN/VNs are hot, hence the bajillion moe-girl, harem, and nerd-trapped-in-a-fantasy-world shows being made.
Dolmen 2.0, on 08 September 2015 - 07:22 AM, said:
LinearPhilosopher, on 08 September 2015 - 12:53 AM, said:
he makes some good points. I also listened to about 30 minutes of his critique of SAO. Was quite in depth...
Depressingly so. I think subconsciously we all picked up on it. Considering where SAO started theres plenty of material that wasn't addressed aswell as it could have. I still enjoy the spectacle of SAO but digging deep into the characterizations and plot developments reveal a fair share of disappointments.
Which is pretty much par for the course for LN adaptations. There is a huuuuge amount of LNs where the main character is a badass self-insert fantasy with minimal character development. For those of us who aren't much into the LN season, SAO was the first adaptation to really stand out (and for good reason, the show does have great execution) and this LN trend hadn't really been noticed yet so SAO got the same treatment as everything else and didn't measure up.
Since SAO, there's been Accel World, Irregular at Magic School, Overlord, GATE, Mikagura School Suite, A Certain Magical Index, Strike the Blood, Aria the Scarlet Ammo, Log Horizon, Denpa Kyoushi, Seraph of the End... now there's a whole mental category of Pandering LN Adaptation, which SAO was merely the forerunner of. And compared to the others in this category, SAO still holds up pretty well, IMO.
QuickTidal, on 08 September 2015 - 01:50 PM, said:
Live Action Trailer for ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM.
...whaaaaaaaaa?